Identification of flutter derivatives of bridge decks

An identification method has been developed to extract all the flutter derivatives defined by R.H. Scanlan. In the present work, the signals of the coupled vertical-torsional free vibration of the spring-suspended section model are used. The flutter derivatives of a thin plate obtained using the present method are compared with the corresponding Theodorsen theoretical values. The present method is then used in the identification of Butter derivatives of the Jiangyin suspension Bridge over Yangtze River. The Butter critical wind speed of this bridge obtained from the full bridge aeroelastic model test in a wind tunnel shows good agreement with the estimated result from Scanlan's Butter analysis method with the Butter derivatives using the present method. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.